Review: Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Bourbon

Posted by Arctic Wolf on May 30, 2018

Woodford Reserve Double Oaked is a Straight Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey, distilled and bottled at the Woodford Reserve Distillery in Versailles Kentucky. The folks at Woodford Reserve pride themselves in the manufacture of what they call ‘craft whiskeys’. The Kentucky distillery is apparently located over top of a deep limestone aquifer which contains mineral rich (iron free) limestone water. The fermentation tanks are constructed from cypress which (according to the folks at Woodford Reserve) helps to eliminate unwanted flavours which could arise in a stainless steel fermentation tank. The wash is distilled three times on copper pots stills to a full 158 proof, and the resulting new make is barreled in freshly charred new oak barrels prepared by the distillers own cooperage. The spirit is set down to mature in a temperature controlled warehouse where it is carefully monitored to be bottled when the right flavour characteristic has been achieved.

In the case of the Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Bourbon undergoes a two barreled maturation process. The first portion of the maturation is in what the distillery calls a custom crafted barrel, and the second portion of the maturation is in a deeply toasted (but lightly charred) barrel which imparts a second amount of oak character to their whiskey.

Here is a link to my full review: